2022 Compton Crook Award Finalist
"Recommended for fans of Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon and
Martha Wells' Murderbot series."
--Booklist
In this riveting debut science-fiction technothriller, a top-notch VR
pilot encounters a disaster during the highest profile space-faring
project of her career. Now she must unearth a critical truth: was her
discovery due to a betrayal, a business rival, or a threat to humanity
itself?
Helen Vectorvich just botched first contact. And she did it in both
virtual reality and outer space.
Only the most elite Far Reaches deep-space pilots get to run waldos:
robots controlled from thousands of lightyears away via neural
integration and quantum entanglement. Helen and her navigator were
heading the construction of a wormhole gate that would connect Earth to
the stars . . . until a routine system check turned deadly.
As nasty rumors swarm around her, and overeager junior pilots jockey to
take her place, Helen makes a startling discovery: microscopic alien
life is devouring their corporate equipment. Is the Scale just mindless,
extra-terrestrial bacteria? Or is it working--and killing--with a
purpose?
While Helen struggles to get back into the pilot's chair, and to
communicate with the Scale, someone--or something--is trying to sabotage
the Far Reaches project once and for all. They'll have to get through
Helen first.
